Orem, Utah, March 16, 2018 – Utah Valley University's chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America (UVU PRSSA), students spent the day touring three different Utah companies to learn their PR strategies. Students were given tours by professionals from Method Communications, ABC4 News and Real Salt Lake and had the chance to ask questions and learn how to get their feet in the PR door.

“This is my first PRSSA excursion, and I’m excited to learn from some amazing PR professional,” said Kaitlyn Guiver, UVU sophomore and new PRSSA member. “It will be fun to learn where these experts started, how they got to where they are today and how I can do the same.”

UVU PRSSA students have the opportunity to go on such excursions every spring and fall visiting different companies each time.

Method Communications is a leading public relations firm with a reputation of hiring UVU alumni. Jacob Moon, co-founder of Method Communications, along with three UVU alumnae talked about different PR strategies used with different clients across the country.

Wesley Ruff, the sports anchor for ABC 4 News, showed the receiving end of a press release and how PR reps and journalists work together. The PRSSA members were able to see what it takes to be a news anchor as they watched the filming of a news broadcast.

PRSSA finished the excursion at Real Salt Lake stadium by seeing the PR team’s work to filling the seats of Utah’s only professional soccer team. Director of PR and web content for Real Salt Lake Matt Gaschk talked about the work they do to gets fans out to the games and also to show the work the team does outside of the stadium.

“This team is different than the other professional teams here like the Utah Jazz,” Gaschk said. “These players usually stay in Utah in the offseason so anyone can run into them at the stores. These players love the community in Utah and we show that by doing service in the community with the players.”

UVU’s chapter of PRSSA was established in October of 2009. In a short seven years, their chapter has more than 140 active students within the university and has received local, state and national recognition. In 2013 and 2016, they had received the National Outstanding Chapter award. In addition to holding monthly professional development activities and programs, UVU PRSSA has received four Golden Spike Awards, including Best of Show and Utah’s Top PR Industry award. UVU’s chapter of PRSSA is integrated within UVU and its surrounding communities through service projects and professional development excursions.